Excavate Assumptions

Surface unstated assumptions at multiple levels and rank them

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Follow these steps:

1. List every assumption

Identify every assumption embedded in the current framing.

2. Dig at each level

  • Semantic: what must be true for this to be meaningful
  • Pragmatic: what must be true for this to be worth saying
  • Logical: what must hold for the reasoning to work
  • Framework: what worldview this assumes

3. Rate importance and certainty

Rate each on importance (how much the conclusion depends on it) and certainty (how well-supported it is).

4. Focus the attention

Focus on assumptions that are both highly important and highly uncertain.

5. Test each

Ask "what evidence would disprove this?" and "what if the opposite were true?"

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